Demerara Harbour Bridge to be repurposed once new bridge in place

…current bridge repairs cost $1.2B

Once dismantled, the old Demerara Harbour Bridge is expected to be repurposed and installed in various locations around the country, once the new four-lane, high fixed span Demerara River bridge being built under the current People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government is commissioned.

This was revealed by Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, who on Monday hosted a press conference featuring various agency heads who fall under his remit. While Edghill noted that a definite decision has not been taken on how to use the old bridge, he stressed that the bridge would not go to waste.
“There are a lot of places where sections of the bridge can be used. It can be used in the Kwakwani (Region 10) crossing, or in several parts of the hinterland. Maybe some of it can be used in Kurupakari (Region 10). We’re looking at more permanent infrastructure for Linden to Lethem Road, so we may be looking at a permanent structure across Kurupakari.”
“Maybe it could link Leguan and Wakenaam. Those are some of the other discussions being made. But I can tell you, it won’t be old iron pushed in a corner. It will be used for the development of Guyana,” Edghill said.

Rehabilitation cost
In the meantime, Government is currently rehabilitating parts of the Demerara Harbour Bridge – repairs that cost approximately $1.2 billion.
According to General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Wayne Watson, the completion date for these repairs have been pushed back to April 2022.
“The total cost for rehabilitation of span 9 and 10 and replacement of span 9 is approximately $1.2 billion. It was scheduled to finish the project by December 2021, but because of consideration for users of the bridge, we’re now projecting by April.”
“In order to replace span 9, the rehabilitation work of both span 9 and 10 must be completed, which will require some closures of the bridge. The total closures to do rehabilitation work is about 16 hours closure. To date, we have only done 5 (hours),” Watson said.
The construction of the new Demerara River Bridge is slated to start in the fourth quarter of 2021. The project is expected to be finished within two years. The bridge will land aback Nandy Park, EBD, and at La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
Last year, Cabinet granted its no-objection for China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd to construct the bridge at a proposed cost of US$256.6 million. The contract was awarded based on a Design-Build-Finance (DBF) model with financial terms and conditions which would be no less favourable than those submitted in the preferred bidder’s price proposals. The proposed construction cost by China State Construction was in fact the lowest amongst all bidders.
Initially, the Government had pre-qualified nine firms to submit bids for the construction of a two-lane dual carriageway (4 lanes) hybrid cable-stayed centre span bridge with concrete box/T beam girder approach bridge structure.
The pre-qualified firms were invited to submit bids to construct the bridge using a Design-Build-Finance (D-B-F) contract and Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain (D-B-F-O-M) contract.
At the pre-bid meeting, held on June 28, 2021, it was agreed that the closing date for submission of bids would be October 5, 2021. Only five of the pre-qualified bidders submitted bids, of which four obtained the required minimum score for the technical proposal.
The new bridge will offer easy connectivity to both the existing East Bank Demerara road as well as the new Diamond-to-Ogle bypass on the eastern side of the river and to the existing West Bank Demerara road and the new Parika-to-Schoonord road on the western side of the river.
The new bridge will also offer critical connectivity to the new Wales Development Authority, which will be a major centre of productive activity when it comes on stream. (G1)